The present invention relates to a method for the production of propylene copolymers, in particular propylene/ethylene random copolymers or heterophasic (multiple phase) copolymers, for example comprising an ethylene propylene rubber phase in a propylene copolymer matrix phase, having improved properties, in particular high melt strength. In particular, the present invention relates to a process for the production of polypropylene/ethylene random copolymers or heterophasic copolymers having improved properties by irradiating polypropylene/ethylene random or heterophasic copolymers with a high energy electron beam.
Propylene copolymer resins are used in a variety of different applications. However, linear propylene copolymers resins suffer from the problem of having a low melt strength at high melt index, which restricts their use in a number of applications because they are difficult to process. It is known in the art to increase the melt strength of polypropylene, for example by irradiating the propylene copolymer with an electron beam. It is known that electron beam irradiation significantly modifies the structure of a propylene copolymer molecule. The irradiation of propylene copolymers results in chain scission and grafting (or branching) which can occur simultaneously. Up to a certain level of irradiation dose, it is possible to produce from a linear polypropylene copolymers molecule having been produced using a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a modified polymer molecule having free-end long branches, otherwise known as long chain branching.
It is known that such long chain branching drastically modifies the rheological behaviour of the polypropylene, for example their elongational and shear viscosity.
EP-A-0678527 discloses a process for producing a modified polypropylene in which polypropylene and a cross-linking agent mixture are irradiated with ionising radiation so as to give an absorbed dosage of 1 to 20 kGy, with subsequent heat-treating of the resultant material. In Example 1 it is disclosed that the irradiation conditions have an accelerated voltage of 2 MW and an electric current of 1.0 mA.
WO-A-97/08216 discloses a method for producing diene-modified propylene polymers which are irradiated. It is disclosed that the irradiation is preferably carried out using E-beam or xcex3 radiation at a dose of about 1 to about 20 Mrad for a few seconds. It is disclosed that polypropylene made be modified with a diene and then irradiated to cause chain extension.
EP-A-0634441 discloses a process for making a high melt strength propylene polymer by high energy radiation. The dose range is disclosed as being from 1 to 10,000 Mrads per minute and it is disclosed that the ionising radiation should have sufficient energy to penetrate to the extent desired in the mass of linear, propylene polymer material being radiated. There is also disclosed the use of an accelerating potential (for an electron generator) of 500 to 4000 kV. Following the irradiation step the irradiated material is heated.
EP-A-0190889 discloses a process similar to that of EP-A-0634441 in that it is disclosed that the accelerating potential of an electron generator may be from 500 to 4000 kV.
EP-A-0799839 also has a similar disclosure to EP-A-0634441 and discloses the use of an electron generator having accelerating potential of 500 to 4000 kV.
EP-A-0451804 discloses a method of increasing the molecular weight of syndiotactic polypropylene by irradiation in the absense of oxygen. This specification does not disclose any energy range for the irradiation. The dose of the irradiation may be from 0.1 to 50 Mrad. After irradiation, the polypropylene may be heated.
EP-A-0351866 has a yet further similar disclosure to EP-A-0634441 and discloses the use of an electron generator having an accelerating potential of 500 to 4000 kV.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,668 discloses a process for irradiating polypropylene to increase the melt strength thereof. An increase in the melt strength is achieved by decreasing the melt flow rate, otherwise known as the melt index. It is disclosed that a linear propylene polymer material is irradiated with high energy ionising radiation, preferably an electron beam, at a dose rate in the range of from about 1 to 1xc3x97104 Mrads per minute for a period of time sufficient for a substantial amount of chain scission of the linear, propylene polymer molecule to occur but insufficient to cause gelation of the material. Thereafter, the material is maintained for a period of time sufficient for a significant amount of long chain branches to form. Finally, the material is treated to deactivate substantially all free radicals present in the irradiated material. It is disclosed that for an electron beam, the electrons are beamed from an electron generator having an accelerating potential (i.e. an energy) of from 500 to 4000 kV. Typically, the polypropylene material to be irradiated is in particulate form and is conveyed on a conveyor belt beneath an electron beam generator which continuously irradiates the polypropylene particles as they are translated thereunder by the conveyor belt. The resultant polyethylene has improved melt strength as represented by a decrease in the melt flow rate. A disadvantage of the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,668 is that the production rate of the irradiated polypropylene is relatively low, because the speed of the conveyor belt is low and only a small volume of material is processed. This results in difficulties in commercial implementation of the process. In addition, the specification discloses the use of a very broad range of dose rates i.e. from 1 to 1xc3x97104 Mrads per minute. High dose rates of greater than about 40 Mrad can result in a substantially fully cross-linked structure of the polypropylene. Such a cross-linked structure is difficult to process.
EP-A-0520773 discloses an expandable polyolefin resin composition including polypropylene optionally blended with polyethylene. In order to prepare a cross-linked foam, a sheet of expandable resin composition is irradiated with ionising radiation to cross-link the resin. The ionising radiation may include electron rays, at a dose of from 1 to 20 Mrad. It is disclosed that auxiliary cross-linking agents may be employed which include a bifunctional monomer, exemplified by 1,9-nonanediol dimethyacrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,948,666 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,936 disclose processes for producing irradiated polypropylene. The latter specification discloses the production of a high molecular weight, non-linear propylene polymer material characterised by high melt strength by high energy irradiation of a high molecular weight linear propylene polymer. It is disclosed that the ionising radiation for use in the irradiation step may comprise electrons beamed from an electron generator having an accelerating potential of 500 to 4000 kV. For a propylene polymer material without a polymerised diene content, the dose of ionising radiation is from 0.5 to 7 Mrad. For propylene polymer material having a polymerised diene content, the dose is from 0.2 to 2 Mrad.
EP-A-0821018 discloses the preparation of cross linkable olefinic polymers which have been subjected to ionising radiation. The specification exemplifies electron beams of relatively low energy and low doses to split polymeric chains in order to graft silane derivatives onto the polymeric chain. The specification does not address the problem of achieving high melt strength of polymers.
EP-A-0519341 discloses the grafting of vinyl monomers on particulate olefin polymers by irradiating the polymer and treating with a grafting monomer. In an example, polypropylene is irradiated with an electron beam having an energy of 2 MeV and subsequently treated with maleic anhydride as a grafting monomer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,994 discloses the production of graft copolymers of polyolefins in which a mass of olefin polymer particles is irradiated and thereafter the mass is treated with a vinyl monomer in liquid form. The ionising radiation dose is about 1 to 12 Mrad and the ionising radiation preferably comprises electrons beamed from an electron generator having an accelerating potential of 500 to 4000 kV. The polymer is first irradiated and then treated with a grafting agent.
EP-A-0792905 discloses the continuous production of polypropylene mixtures of increased stress crack resistance and melt strength by the action of ionising radiation. The energy of the ionising radiation is from 150 to 300 keV and the radiation dose ranges from 0.05 to 12 Mrad.
It is further known that when irradiating isotactic polypropylene which has been produced using conventional Ziegler-Natta catalysts, the irradiation of the polypropylene with an electron beam produces free radicals and there is a competition between chain scission and branching which is in favour of chain scission. It is known to use branching agents, for example multi-vinylic compounds, to displace the equilibrium towards the achievement of branching. For example CA-A-2198651 discloses that bifunctional, unsaturated monomers can be added before and/or during the irradiation. Such compounds may include divinyl compounds, alkyl compounds, dienes or mixtures thereof. These bifunctional, unsaturated monomers can be polymerised with the help of free radicals during the irradiation. Butadiene is particularly preferred. CA-A-2198651 also discloses a continuous method for producing polypropylene mixtures of increased stress-crack resistance and melt strength in which a low-energy electron beam accelerator with an energy of from 150 to 300 keV at a radiation dose of 0.05 to 12 Mrads is employed. This process also suffers from the disadvantage that the production rate of the irradiated powder can be somewhat low for commercial acceptance. Moreover, the polypropylene powder to be irradiated must be in the form of very fine particles. The use of such branching (or grafting) agents leads to the disadvantages of increased cost and increased possibility of environmental problems, in particular toxicity, as a result of adding branching or grafting agent to the polypropylene.
It is also known to irradiate propylene copolymers of propylene and dienes, for example 1,5-hexadiene, after their polymerisation.
The present invention aims to provide a process for producing propylene copolymer resins, having improved properties, in particular improved melt strength, and also optionally which can be manufactured at a high production rate. It is another aim of the present invention to provide a process for producing propylene copolymers which avoids the need for a branching or grafting reagent during or following an irradiation step. It is also an aim of the invention to provide such a process which provides substantially increased long chain branching on the propylene copolymer molecules following the irradiation. It is a further aim to produce random or heterophasic propylene copolymers having improved melt strength.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for producing a propylene copolymer having increased melt strength, the process comprising irradiating a copolymer of propylene and ethylene which has been polymerised using a Ziegler-Natta catalyst with an electron beam having an energy of at least 5 MeV and a radiation dose of at least 10 kGray and melting and mechanically processing the melt of the irradiated ethylene propylene copolymer to form long chain branches on the ethylene propylene copolymer molecules.
The present invention is predicated on the discovery by the present inventor that high irradiation energy electron beams cause a modification of the molecular weight distribution of ethylene-propylene copolymers, for example by forming a bimodal molecular weight distribution, which can lead to an increase in the melt strength of the irradiated copolymers. The use of such high energy irradiation can also enable high throughput of ethylene-propylene copolymer to be irradiated without the need for a branching or grafting agent, thereby making irradiation more commercially useful and with reduced environmental or toxicity problems. The irradiation causes the formation of free radicals in the ethylene-propylene copolymer chains particularly at the ethylene sites in a propylene/ethylene random copolymer chain. The secondary carbon sites are more sensitive to free radical formation than the tertiary carbon sites. When the irradiated polymer is subsequently mechanically processed or worked in the melt, for example by extrusion, in the absence of a grafting or branching agent this causes recombination between free radicals, creating long chain branching without the need for a branching or grafting agent.
Preferably, the propylene copolymer is irradiated at an energy of at least 10 MeV.
The propylene copolymer may be an isotactic propylene copolymer, a syndiotactic propylene copolymer, or a blend of isotactic and syndiotactic propylene copolymers. Most particularly, the copolymer comprises a random or heterophasic ethylene propylene copolymer which has been polymerised using a Ziegler-Natta catalyst (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cZNiPP copolymerxe2x80x9d). The ethylene propylene copolymers may have a monomodal molecular weight distribution or a multimodal molecular weight distribution, for example a bimodal molecular weight distribution. The increase in melt strength as a result of the irradiation process can yield a melt strength for the ethylene propylene copolymer which is similar to that of a polyethylene of similar melt flow index. This production of higher melt strength propylene copolymers enables the propylene copolymers to be used in a variety of different applications where melt strength is required when the polymer is processed from the melt, for example in blow moulding, blowing of films, extrusion thermoforming and in the production of foams.
The ethylene-propylene copolymer may contain up to 10 wt % ethylene, most particularly around 1 wt % ethylene. The ethylene-propylene copolymer may be a random block copolymer. The ethylene-propylene copolymer may be used as a matrix phase of a heterophasic polymer which is toughened by rubber particles, for example ethylene-propylene copolymer rubber particles, typically in an amount of up to 30 wt %.
In the irradiation process, typically the propylene copolymer is deposited onto a continuously moving conveyor such as an endless belt. The propylene copolymer on the conveyor passes under an electron beam generator which irradiates the propylene copolymer. Preferably, the accelerating potential or energy of the electron beam is from 5 to 100 MeV, still more preferably at least 10 MeV, yet more preferably from 10 to 25 MeV. The power of the electron beam generator is preferably from 50 to 500 kW more preferably for 120 to 250 kW. The radiation dose to which the propylene copolymer is subjected is preferably from 25 to 50 kGray, preferably around 50 kGray (10 kGray is equivalent to 1 Mrad). The conveyor speed is adjusted in order to achieve the desired dose. Typically, the conveyor speed is from 0.5 to 20 meters/minute, preferably from 1 to 10 meters/minute, more preferably from 2.25 to 8.5 meters/minute.
As a result of the high irradiating potential of the electron beam, not only can the conveyor speed be significantly higher than in the prior art, but also the thickness of the continuously moving bed of propylene copolymer on the conveyor can be relatively high. Typically, the bed of propylene copolymer has a thickness of up to 20 cm, most particularly from 5 to 10 cm. The bed of propylene copolymer on the conveyor typically has a width of up to about 1 meter. Preferably, the irradiation is carried out under an inert atmosphere, such as nitrogen.
After irradiation by the electron beam, the propylene copolymer powder can be annealed and then treated with at least one known antioxidant additive. The annealing temperature may range from 50 to 150xc2x0 C. more preferably from 80 to 120xc2x0 C. and the annealing time may range from 1 to 60 minutes, more preferably from 5 to 30 minutes. Thereafter the propylene copolymer is mechanically processed, e.g. by extrusion, and granulated.
In accordance with a preferred aspect of the invention, the irradiated ethylene propylene copolymers have increased melt strength. This particular rheological property provides an outstanding processing behaviour which allows the ethylene propylene copolymers produced in accordance with the invention to be suitable particularly for producing films, sheets, fibres, pipes, foams, hollow articles, panels and coatings. The irradiated ethylene propylene copolymer also has improved mechanical properties, such as flexural modulus and impact resistance, and improved rheological properties such as recovery compliance and relaxation time.